Dante Cortes

Cael gave a soft smile, wondering if he could even find his sketchbook or if it had burnt to a crisp like the rest of his apartment. He didn’t remember grabbing it, so that had most likely been the paper’s fate. “I don’t know, really. I got…busy. Things were happening in the coven that I couldn’t control. Someone did something they weren’t supposed to, and I had no more time to run to Cape Town and try and sketch what I saw. Or just the nearest coast, either.” He looked surprised at Dante’s offer, but it did make him feel a little better, “You will? You’re not scared like everyone else in the town?”

Dante nodded, understanding. Sometimes life got in the way of art. Dante tried not to let it but it happened with him too, sometimes, though usually it was his emotional state that stopped him from being able to express himself. It was ironic, since art was supposed to help you get through things but more often than not, especially lately, his negative emotions hindered his artistic ability. “If you ever want to pick it up again, I can give you some supplies.” Though he didn’t have nearly as much as he’d had before the fire and was having to restock and replace everything. Starting from scratch again was difficult. “I’m terrified.” Dante admitted. “I have no idea what it is or what it does, only that in my dreams it’s sinister and feels...wrong. But I’m not about to let you go up there alone, especially with what happened at the fair.” He had no idea if that was linked to the tree or not but given that that kind of thing happened in this town it didn’t seem wise for anyone to go poking into things by themselves. Dante had lost enough friends recently, he didn’t want Cael to be another. 

“Neeley Corporations. I’m a personal assistant. Which is new for me, I usually try and work somewhere with … fewer people. But it pays well, and has full dental.” He shrugged. He’d worked odd jobs, having a sketchy past and all. “What can I tell you? I wish it was too. But it’s accepting of people like me, so I guess the bad comes with the good.” He turned on his side to try and see what Dante was sketching. “You can sketch me instead, if you want. Drowned rat in landscape, very artistic.” He chuckled.

“Not much more you can ask for from a job these days, except for maybe enjoying it.” Dante had vaguely heard of Neeley Corporations as one of those big businesses who was involved in everything but he couldn’t define what it actually did. At least it paid well. Dante nodded and sighed. “It does seem surprisingly diverse for a town so small. What are you like, that they’d have to accept here?” Dante was curious though he was aware it could be a sensitive or dangerous question. Jasper suggested he draw him and it wasn’t a half bad idea. The witch usually did better with live models so he flipped to a new page. “You’re hardly a drowned rat and I think I’d like to, if you really don’t mind. Try to find a position comfortable enough to be still in for a while unless you want me to sketch you in motion.” It was harder but could be fun sometimes too. 

Remy listened close, keeping quiet while Dante talked. Even after he finished there was a moment’s pause. “It’s what I expected to hear,” she responded. “It’s ok to be tired, and to hate all those things. I’m sure plenty of people feel the same way to be honest. It’s not the situation that you should be worried about, it’s what you choose to do with it now that does. Are you going to let it eat you alive and wallow in it or are you to rise up and make something better of it? You don’t like losing people then I mean that can’t be helped, but you could hang out with friends more. Make more time. There’s always tiny solutions to big problems.”

She wasn’t shocked to hear what he had to say, but he supposed it was a common feeling right now. It was nice of her to say it was okay to be tired, even if she followed it up with a bit of cliche advice. Be tired, but also pull yourself up and make the best of it. He’d been trying to make the best of it for so long, he was tired of that too. “Do you know how hard that is, how exhausting? I’ve tried endlessly, to make the best of things, to try and put a brave face on, to be more positive than negative. It doesn’t feel like I can do it anymore.” He shook his head and scoffed. “Friends? The few I have left, perhaps, and they’re all spending time getting settled just as I am. I don’t think spending more time with friends is going to solve any of these problems but thank you for that suggestion.” He hated to be so biting and cutting normally but as he’d said, he was tired and it took too much effort to be nice right now. 

Clary felt feverish with both the lust and the hunger.  For being a cold, lifeless corpse, her body felt like it was on fire.  She opened her mouth to speak but another moan came out instead of actual words.  Fuck, this was better than the times in the past they’d done it.  Maybe it was because they’d almost lost each other and were really making it count now.  Whatever it was, she reveled in it.  ‘Tell me what you need’ he said and the words were lost again.  What she needed?  Her mind was cloudy and it was hard to find an answer.  “I need you,” she managed to get out at last, arching her body so it pressed into his a bit more.  She needed him in every sense of the word.  For comfort, for pleasure, for a snack, for everything all at once.  She thought she’d die without him, as dramatic as that might sound.

The heat between them was addictive and Clary found herself wanting more.  She let out the slightest moan when Dante entered her mouth, realizing it’d been too long since they’d been like this.  She shivered with each touch and let herself be present in the moment as he lay her back.  She didn’t care if Matilda showed up early and walked in on them, and any other thoughts vanished from her mind as she focused on him and only him.  She could hear the blood pulsing through his body, every beat of his heart, and it only made her stomach growl even more.  She didn’t realize how hungry she was until that moment and she wondered how much longer she could go until she was sinking her teeth into him, whether she liked it or not.  “Dante…”  She whispered against him as she pulled back just slightly.

Her shivers just encouraged him to touch her more, swallowing her moan and kissing her more deeply. It didn’t matter what else was going on in the world or outside of this hotel room, all that mattered right now was them. Dante pressed down against her, his body already heated and he wanted to warm her too. There was really only one real way he could do that, he knew, and when she pulled back he slowed a little and looked down at her. “Yes?” He breathed it back at her before his lips trailed down her jaw and over her neck like he couldn’t help himself. “Tell me what you need.” He kissed the whispered words into her skin. 

“Well, sort of, yeah.” Remy smiled regardless as she looked out at the water. It really was rather peaceful if she were honest about it. Nature had always struck a chord with her. It may have had something to do with the witch side of her, but that remained to be seen. “It’s alright. Everyone needs someone to talk to. Sometimes it’s easier with a stranger.”

They weren’t sort of obsolete, they’d been discontinued but there was no point in saying that. He was trying not to take his mood out on her, after all. Dante sighed when she seemed to press the point. “Fine. I’m tired of watching people die, of losing people, of not being able to sleep because of what I’ve seen. I’m tired of these terrible tree dreams and how this town doesn’t seem to be much better than the last and that some people are just as irritatingly unsympathetic and uncaring as people in the last town. I’m just tired.” He let out a breath after his little rant and looked at her. “Is that what you wanted to hear?” 

The shorts were always tricky. He’d learned to wear skin tight ones. Growing a tail tended to absorb them into his skin, which sounded as unpleasant as it was, which was why he usually swam naked, but you couldn’t really do that on a public beach, and his old swimming spot had been taken by a walrus seal and his harem, who was being a real jerk about the whole thing. Like Jasper even wanted his fricken seal cows. It wasn’t his fault they wanted to swim with him. Throwing down his beach towel, Jasper flopped next to Dante and spent a little while getting used to breathing out of lungs again. Gills, in his opinion, were a vast improvement. “Not bad. Got a job. This town continues to be insane, but I knew that when I came back. How about you?” He glanced up. “Painting the landscape?”

“Oh? I did too, temporarily. Where are you working?” Dante had looked into some things at the fair and had gotten hired to help redesign and renovate the Frost Home for Displaced Children so he had some temporary work, at least. He’d have to branch out a little more once it finished but at least it was something. Dante sighed. “Yes, this town is very much insane. I wish it wasn’t.” The witch looked down at his sketchpad again. “Sketching it, or at least trying to. I’m not doing very well.” 

“I used to sketch,” he said finally, furrowing his eyebrows as he remembered sitting on South Africa’s shores. “Lots of sharks, whales, seagulls. I miss it,” he finally sighed, glancing down at the notepad in Dante’s hands, “I’m alright. After what happened at the fair, I’ve just been…sleepless,” he admitted, biting his bottom lip. “I want to figure out what the tree is; what power it has. I’m going up there by myself, later.”

“Did you?” Dante glanced over at his friend, not having known the other had any artistic inclinations. “Why did you stop?” He asked, gently. Sometimes there were good reasons for why people didn’t do something any more, or painful ones. The water witch sighed and nodded. “I know the feeling.” It was better, sleeping beside Clary than being on his own, but that didn’t mean he always managed to get away with a dreamless sleep or even one without nightmares. Cael’s statement made his pencil stop though and he sat up straighter, looking right at him now instead of the glances he’d given before. “I don’t think you should go by yourself.” It seemed like a terrible idea, all things considered. “I can come with you.” Two witches would be better than one, especially when they were facing such an unknown as whatever the creepy tree was. 

The same quizzical, yet amused, look came to his face as he stepped out of the water. “Very good day for a swim,” he agreed with a bright smile. Valentin would’ve shaken his hair to get rid of the excess water, but he didn’t want to get the other man wet. “Good day to draw or write?” His eyes fell down to the pad in the other’s hand as he spoke.

“That’s good.” Dante nodded, feeling stupid and not entirely sure why the other flustered him so much. He’d talked to attractive men before without making a fool of himself. The witch glanced down at his sketchpad and shrugged. “Draw. It probably is but I’m not all that inspired. Unless you wanted to model for me.” Whoops, there it was, it just slipped out. “Don’t feel like you have to, obviously. My name’s Dante, by the way.” He was clearly doing so well at not acting like an idiot. Ugh. 

Clary hadn’t realized how hungry she was until that moment, and not just for Dante’s blood.  The last couple days had been nothing but stressful and tense but now that he was there she didn’t have to feel that way.  It was one of the things she loved about him:  The way he was able to calm her in ways she hadn’t dreamed of.  All her life she’d felt like a monster.  She’d killed her brother, she’d abandoned her sister, she sought revenge on her sire.  Even when she was doing meaningless ‘human’ things and seemed normal, she always felt cold and undesirable.  Then she met him and none of that seemed to matter anymore.  When she first saw him in that hallway, trapped from the snow storm, she never thought he’d be more than just something to distract her.  In the grand scheme of things, he was barely a blink in her lifeline and yet she knew she’d never forget him.  He wasn’t like the other guys she’d been with and that’s why she wanted to be there.  She kissed him back, letting herself forget about everything.  About Kai, about Ruth, about Damien, even about her stupid cat that she was sure was probably watching like a creeper.  She only wanted to think about Dante and how much he meant to her.  Clary held still for a second, just letting the taste of him against her linger.  She parted her lips enough for him so he’d know to enter as she shrugged off her jacket.  For being such a cold creature, she sure was starting to feel warmer.

Dante hoped this would be good for both of them, as a reunion, a stress reliever, and a distraction from everything that had happened. It would be nice to just forget for a while. He also wanted to get her to feed, obviously, since she needed that too. Dante already felt better just being with her again and knowing she was alive and hopefully things would keep getting better from here on out. She paused before parting her lips for him and he slipped his tongue in, tasting her more deeply than it seemed like he had in too long. She shrugged her jacket off and he slid his hands under her shirt, feeling her cool skin which slowly seemed to be warming as she shared his body heat. Scooting backwards a little and pulling her with him, he turned so she was lying with her back on the bed and moved overtop of her, keeping their mouths as connected as possible the whole time.

Cael found himself by the water, staring down at the reflection it gave. He studied himself, only looking away when the water rippled from a duck nearby. The witch had only seen desperation in the image staring back at him, and Cael wasn’t sure what to do about it. He took a deep breath, looking up when he realized someone else was nearby. A smile appeared as he noticed it was Dante, and he made his way towards the other witch, “Hey,” he grinned, sliding down into a seat beside Dante. “What are you drawing?”

Dante found a spot and settled, flipping his sketchbook open and looking out across the water. He started to sketch the scene, absently, trying to blank his mind and just focus on the details of the drawing. He managed it, for a few minutes, before someone sat down beside him. The pencil stopped for a moment and he glanced over, pleased to find that it was someone he actually knew. He wasn’t sure he was in much of a mood for strangers. “The water, mostly. A few ducks. I’m just trying to keep myself focused on something other than everything that’s been going on.” He started sketching again even as he carried on the conversation. “How are you?” 

Jasper, out for a swim, saw Dante, who wasn’t exactly his friend, but was certainly friendlier than half the people he’d met in his lifetime, and waved. He swam towards shore, staying underwater long enough for his tail to split into legs again. It didn’t exactly hurt, but it made his skin itch and he was always a little wonky at first. He got to waist deep and started carefully stepping closer until he’d got the hang of walking, then strode up the beach, picking up his towel. He never swam in anything more than shorts, despite the water being cold. He’d grown up in the Atlantic, and was basically cold-blooded anyway. Drying himself off, he grinned and headed over. “Hey, stranger.”

Someone was waving to him from the water and Dante glanced over to see that it was Jasper. He lifted a hand to wave back and stopped near the edge, He mustered a small smile for the other man as he emerged from the water and picked up his towel. “Hello. How have you been?” They’d really only had the one conversation and a swim together but it had still been good, had taken his mind off things, and he was pretty sure the salt water had helped his burns so he was grateful to Jasper for that. He liked the guy so far and figured they might become friends, if they kept running into each other. 

Remy had recognized him before he had even started for the water. Probably some passing conversation she couldn’t really recall at the moment, but she had the thought that no one should be alone out anywhere like that with that invisible who knows what lurking. “Uhm, hey,” she greeted awkwardly, not sure how to approach and not seem weird for walking up on him. “Penny for your thoughts maybe?”

Dante glanced over when the woman walked over and addressed him. She seemed vaguely familiar, which meant she was likely another refugee. He nodded to show that he’d heard her greeting. “Aren’t pennies obsolete?” He sighed. “Sorry. My thoughts aren’t very good at the moment so you probably don’t want to hear them.” 

Nothing felt better than to go home and take a nice, cold shower after a long run. Any sensible person would agree, but he wasn’t exactly sensible for a lot of things. This was one of them. Valentin forbade himself to think about the dream he had the other night, and that was the only reason why he was still acting so chipper. He was trucking along, pushing his way in with an optimistic sight on things that most didn’t have right now. Being scared and pessimistic was a normal reaction to what had happened at the festival, but he figured that it might some good to be the opposite of that. But back to being sensible. His body had a sheen of sweat over it, and he figured that since he was already running around a lake.. why shouldn’t he get in it to cool off? He just had his keys on him, since he had forgotten his phone when he left somehow, so he got in and took a swim around. After a few minutes of swimming out he turned around and dove under to cross the last few stretches before he would hit the edge. When he popped up he found himself looking at someone walking by. “Heya,” Valentin said as he pushed his hair back while he got out of the lake.

Dante wasn’t sure he actually felt like sketching, he probably didn’t have the focus. Then again, he could always just let his mind wander or go blank and his fingers draw what they would. He was starting to consider picking a spot to sit and do that when he noticed someone swimming. He paused and watched them until they came up out of the water and again, he couldn’t help the way he stared. This man seemed to have that effect on him, especially with the water running down his toned body. “Hi.” Dante replied, belatedly, looking up at the man’s face as hard as it was. They’d met at the fair, briefly, and his beauty had given Dante pause then as well. Sketching him might take his mind off things but it seemed odd to ask a stranger to pose for him. “Good day for a swim?” He didn’t even know the man’s name and figured he should probably learn it, at some point. 

“Yeah.  It’ll be interesting,” Clary said thoughtfully.  It would be weird to go from being in a studio apartment by herself to living with two other people plus animals.  It’d be nice though, she was tired of being alone.  Dante continue to reassure her nothing would happen and she wanted to believe him but it didn’t make her worry any less.  When they got to the hotel, she lead him to the room she was staying in, glad Matilda wasn’t there like she’d said.  It would make things that much easier.  She let him guide her to the bed and sit them both down, and there, she immediately returned his kiss.  The butterflies filled her stomach as the realization hit that they were indeed alone in a hotel room together.  They weren’t on the street for random people to see or scold them.  They didn’t have to stop if they didn’t want to.  When the kiss broke, she stared back at him, not sure how to start.  In the past it was easy to bite the guy, get what she needed and leave but this wasn’t like that.  This was Dante.  He was her boyfriend.  She was hungry, yes, but she wasn’t going to make this just another meal.  “Of course we can,” she replied with a nervous smile.  Not because of what was implied, but more what could happen during.  She’d always heard that feeding during sex made it more intimate and she didn’t doubt that for a second.  She just wanted to make sure he was ready for something like that.  Hell, she wanted to make sure she was ready for something like that.  “I think Matilda said she’d be gone the rest of the evening,” she said hoping that’s what he meant when he said ‘fun’. 

Dante hadn’t known that many vampires, really. It wasn’t like he discriminated against them, he just hadn’t seem to have the opportunity or run into very many. Then he moved to Ontario and the little northern town seemed to be full of them. Still, he hadn’t ever offered to let one drink from him before and the prospect seemed a little exciting. He was excited to try it with Clary, anyway, and maybe a touch nervous but not because he was afraid she would hurt him. There was always a little nervousness involved when he did something for the first time and that’s all it really was. She agreed to making it fun and he smiled wider, glad she seemed to be catching his drift. He’d known some people who liked being fed from, who said it was kind of erotic and he hoped, with her, that would be true. “Good. We won’t have to worry about being interrupted then.” He pulled her closer and kissed her again, gently at first before it slowly got more heated. He was sure she was hungry but he didn’t think they had to rush anything. Maybe starting this way would ease her nerves even more.